You are browsing the archive for 2011 November.

With the holidays coming up, it may seem like a special challenge to get through No-Buy-November without buying any new manufactured presents. After all, buying expensive presents for each other is how we show affection in western cultures, right?

The truth is, presents are actually a pretty poor way of showing how you care. And here’s some science to back that up!

So here are some ideas for alternatives to the traditional holiday present exchange:

Give a gift of personal service – a IOU for a few foot-massages, or 3 “I’ll cook dinner tonight” passes, or even a punch card for 100 free hugs

Give a trip to a spa, or a free professional massage

Give something you made yourself…it will be much more meaningful, and probably better than anything you could buy

This cute, inspirational video was my first real introduction to the idea that our consumption has real consequences for the world. It took a while for me to make the leap from the idea that too much stuff is bad to the idea that I am actually buying too much stuff, but this was where it all started.

No-Buy-November started this year as a simple Facebook event, a challenge to buy no newly manufactured products for the entire month of November. This year, more than 50 people have taken the challenge, and we hope that more will join us.

Take a look around the website, where we will be posting helpful, inspirational, or at least interesting links and articles, all about reducing consumption. And feel free to join the conversation!